River of Dreams' Character Creation Process

This is a step by step Character Creation Process for Richmond's "River of Dreams" Campaign.  You will need WW's Shining Hosts Book.  Listed here are house rules and changes.

The Changeling Character Creation System

The most important part of your character is the concept. You should imagine your character enmeshed in the World of Darkness--a place of callousness, brutality, intrigue, and hidden romance. Since you are thinking about portraying a Changeling in this world, you should think about how old your character will be, what your character will know of history (or not know), and how your character deals with the Nobility and its Knights, Kings and other authorities. White Wolf's World of Darkness has been constructed with the younger characters in mind-- characters which have just become Fae in the last 5-10 years. White Wolf focused on younger characters because they are more able to role play-- learning about their "new" nature, establishing themselves, and feeling the truly awesome power of the society that governs so many of the Kithain. If your character has been an awakened Fae for more than 15 years, you will want to consult with a storyteller extensively--the older characters tend to be part of the establishment or at least they have the system down and propogate it as part of their mask.

There are many Character types in the Changeling world, but to keep from saturating our world with rarities, for the most part character creation is restricted to these kiths:

         Boggans, Eshu, Nockers, Pooka, Redcaps, Satyrs, Sluagh, Trolls and Mortals.

A note on Sidhe:  If you would like to play one of the noble Sidhe, that can probably be arranged, but I am keeping their numbers small in relation to commoners.  It is very possible that, although I don't mind your playing a Sidhe, there simply will be no room for you to play one at the time.  If necessary, I will put together a waiting list for Nobles, and should population of the game increase more, or nobility dwindles, I will then allow Sidhe on a first come first serve basis.

        Restricted to VERY special permission (which means a damn good reason and background story) is:
                Clurichaun, Ghille Dhu, Selkies, Thallain (Beasties, Boggarts, Bogies, Goblins and Ogres), Nunnehi, Members of the Shadow Court,
                    Mortals with Numina, Dauntain and Autumn People, Anything crazy not mentioned here.

Step One:

Kith:

Under Birthrights, some Kith Advantages give permanent attribute traits or abilities. These traits act as normal traits but can exceed Trait maximums. They are expended as normal in challenges but cannot be permanently stripped or burned.
Nocker: Forge Chimera
The advantage is that Nockers can create Chimera (see Backgrounds) of 1, 2 or 3 point value for no cost. These Chimera do not have ANY magical properties and are relegated to being in the Enchanted world (i.e. do not have a mundane counterpart).

Step Two:

Same as Shining Hosts.

Step Three:

Choosing Abilities

You may not start with more than 3 levels of any given Ability without justification and Storyteller approval. Additional levels of ability may be developed in-game.

Abilities

Certain of the Abilities listed on pg. 76 of Shining Host were not further explained in Chapter Four, others were added in chapter four but were not listed on pg. 66. Those abilities, and additional abilities available in Sanctioned Play are further explained here.

The following table shows what multiple levels represent in game terms:

1-2X
Competent (Bachelors degree/professional/brown-belt.)
3-4X
Expert (Masters degree/black-belt.)
5X
Master (Doctorate degree/best of the best/maximum human potential.)
6X
Grand Master (preternatural ability from centuries of use or exceptional natural talent combined with skill.)


Linguistics (Clarification)

There is no limit to the number of times you may take this ability. Treat each language as a specific ability per the chart above.  The Storyteller may award Linguistics at their discretion for no experience cost.

Lore: Lores are specialized knowledge of a group, place or type of thing. They usually represent hands-on familiarity or detailed research. They are difficult to acquire because they are specialized, but much more useful than general knowledge. Each specialized Lore falls under the maximum of 5, not Lores in general. Use of a Lore requires a static Mental Challenge against a difficulty set by the Storyteller. Lores work just like any other ability. Some examples are: Kindred Lore, Garou Lore, Unseelie Lore, House Lore, etc. Others may be created as needed by the Storyteller. Like other Abilities, Lores can be further specialized to indicate a particular concentration in that from of knowledge, so for example: Unseelie Lore (Ogres) or House Lore (Balor) isn't unheard of, but rare. Beware, some information is not only difficult to find, but dangerous to know. Those who are covered by a Lore (for example Pooka and Pooka Lore) are considered to have their own lore at level 1, unless they are particularly ignorant or well informed. Just add the appropriate Lore at level 1 (or none) to the Character Sheet and increase it like normally. When your character gains new knowledge in game, in order to reflect that permanently, you need to expend the experience (or be awarded it by an Storyteller) and purchase the appropriate level of Lore Ability (with Storyteller approval of course.)

Gremayre counts as levels of basic Dreaming Lore (this covers all things of the enchanted world).

Shadow Court Lore is often hidden by the Mists from the minds of non Shadow Court changelings. It requires ST approval to have Shadow Court Lore.

Choosing Arts

Choose Three levels of Arts. A player character may spend their three allotted choices to gain an Intermediate Art, although my advice is don't be a one trick pony unless that trick gets done alot.

The Arts of Chronos, Naming and Sovereign are restricted to Sidhe characters. For any character, permission for Chronos or Naming is required.

Choosing Realms

Glamour

Based on your seeming.

Willpower

Based on your seeming.

Banality

 

Backgrounds

Influences:
DO NOT PURCHASE!  I will decide your influences based on your background and actions.
Companion, Chimera and Treasures:
All stats are determined by Storytellers, not the players.
Dreamers:
I must be kept abreast of your activity with your dreamers for you to benefit from them.  If you tell me, "I want to use my dreamers" and I haven't heard an update about them lately, I'm likely to at least up the difficulity for your test.  Please don't treat this as a statistic, these people are integral to your characters life.
Resources (added):
This Trait describes your financial resources or your access to such resources. Such resources are not completely liquid, but you can often sell them to gain money. This Trait assumes that your character gains a basic allowance each month, appropriate to the level of Resources. However, you must detail the source of this income, as it might well "dry up" depending on the circumstances of the chronicle. Liquidation means all your Resource Traits are burned permanently in trade for cash.


Level  Description 
x1  Small savings: You have an apartment and perhaps a motorcycle. If liquidated, you would have $1000 in cash. Allowance of $500 a month. 
x2  Middle class: You have an apartment or condominium. If liquidated, you would have $8,000 in cash. Allowance of $1,200 a month. 
x3  Large savings: You own a house (or at least have some equity.) If liquidated, you would have $150,000 in cash. Allowance of $3,000 a month. 
x4  Well off: You own a very large house, or perhaps a dilapidated mansion. If liquidated, you would have $500,000 in cash. Allowance of $9,000 a month. 
x5  Wealthy: You are a millionaire. If liquidated, you would have up to $2,000,000 in cash. Allowance of $20,000 a month. 
x6  Rich: You are easily a millionaire many times over. If liquidated, you would have up to $5,000,000 in cash. Allowance of $50,000 a month. 
x7  Filthy Rich: You have more money than most people ever dream of. If liquidated, you would have up to $25,000,000 in cash. Allowance of $120,000 a month. 

(Note: This Trait only designates the net worth and income your character has. You still must purchase Financial Influence if you want to be able to control the flow of money, or protect the Resources you have. Any request for Resources 5 or greater requires Regional Storyteller approval.)

Holdings:
Require ST approval.  There can only be so many in a region so I have to police these.
Political Connections:
This background confers no Title or Holding, only representation of such. Having this background many times requires the player to weave their background with the Court or Kindgom they represent.
Title:
Starting Sidhe characters may buy up to Baron without approval.  Starting Commoners may buy up to Knight without approval.  Anything above requires ST approval.  Please understand the ramifications of being made a noble.  This should be in your background.  "Why were you Knighted for instance?  What did you do or are you doing to deserve such a noble title?"

Characters with Titles begin with title treasures that represent their duties and powers as follows:

These Treasures cost nothing. The Symbolic Weapon is a show piece unless Background traits are invested into it.
Trod:
ST approval required.

Step Four:

Merits and Flaws:

Merits and Flaws are available for characters. You may take a maximum of 7 points of flaws and 7 points of merits. If you ever remove the disadvantage in game of a flaw (example: killing the object of your Vengeance) you must pay off the flaw. The cost is 2 points per level. A storyteller has the option of stripping a Merit from a player if the player abuses the Merit in the eyes of the storyteller.
Slipped Seeming and Changeling Eyes
Warning: This is a way to be hunted for breaking the Escheat.
Poetic Heart
            Storyteller approval.
Art Affinity
Must choose this Art (of your affinity) as one of your three starting arts.

Step Five:

It is impossible to stress enough the desire of the Storyteller for you to flesh out the background of your character. If you write this up, you will receive 1 bonus xp. Give me a story or history.

Freebie Points:

You receive 10 starting experience plus what you spend on negatives and flaws.

Spending Experience

Bonus experience may be spent now as listed in Shining Host on page 117 with the following additions and clarifications.

Secondary Characters:

Secondary Characters are created under the same creation process as Primary characters, however their progression and their involvement level
is different.  You may swap back and forth between your characters, but you must change your appearance (preferably drastically, although a pinned on tag would banally suffice). You can do this anytime during the game, but understand the dormancy of your other character. I will not
allow anyone to say "well if i wasn't playing my secondary character, my primary would have been at such and such meeting, can we say he
was there?" NO, NO, NO! If you choose to play two characters, that character only sees what it sees DURING YOUR PLAYING OF IT. I would also appreciate your going to whatever lengths you can not to appear in the same local or at least same scene as your other character. I don't want to see anyone besides ST's and designated narrartors flip-flopping between charcters in a scene (in fact i'd like to keep even ST's and Narr action of it at a minimum)

This also brings up potential problems of IC and OOC knowledge ending up being abused. I trust each of you as fantastic roleplayers, and should i catch anyone using knowledge they found out OOC or that they learned from their other character (without proper
IC reason) I will not hesitate to give horrible punishment. I hate that shit.
 

Gaining XP for Secondary Characters:

Since the secondary character is meant to be just that: secondary, his/her xp will be rather difficult to get. A secondary character will earn xp for any day you play him/her at a rate of 1/2 of what your primary character receives, ROUNDED DOWN! That's right, in most cases your secondary will receive 0 xp, unless you roleplay or costume your ass off. These characters are meant to be background for the most part and should never be as strong as any regular player's primary character.  Also, if you play your secondary character for a full session without playing your primary, assuming you only receive attendence xp,  your PRIMARY still gets the one xp!  This might sound ludicrous, but it keeps players from flipping their primary and secondary status too often.  Think of it this way:  the xp is going to the player and these are the rules on how you can apply it.

Lastly, as with most characters, I must see them and have a copy of  them BEFORE they are played! As our game grows, i plan to restrict
people who can play secondaries, but right now, you are all given permission to make one.


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